Date: 07.12.2017.

According to Statistics Estonia, in the 3rd quarter of 2017, there were approximately 12,700 job vacancies in the enterprises, institutions and organisations of Estonia. This is the highest number of job vacancies in recent years.

The majority of the largest companies in the Baltic states expect their turnovers grow in 2018, said SEB Banka’s spokesman Martins Panke, citing a survey of financial directors conducted by the bank, writes LETA.

The aggregate assets of Latvian banks after the first nine months of this year declined by 6.7% or EUR 1.972 billion to EUR 27.524 billion at the end of September 2017, and there have been changes in the TOP 5 banks by assets, writes LETA, according to the Latvian Association of Commercial Banks.

Akropolis Group, a Vilniaus Prekyba Group company that operates Akropolis malls in Lithuania, is borrowing 106.5 million euros from SEB Bank for the construction of an Akropole shopping center in the Latvian capital of Riga, cites LETA/BNS.

Lithuania's state-controlled energy terminals operator Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil) plans to invest up to 20.9 million euros, including VAT, in upgrading the port's quays used by its oil terminal, informs LETA/BNS.

The Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) adopted legislative amendments on December 6th that will make the payment of the subsistence allowance more flexible, abolish the need-based family allowance and restore the funeral allowance, reports LETA/BNS.

EU economy’s future: slow but positive growthGrowth in all EU states will continue in 2019-20, though at a slower pace than before. The largest EU’s economies will grow at around 1,5-1,7%, mostly in Poland, Spain and Holland. The Baltic States’ growth will continue to be on the positive trend.